OUTDOORS: Bear and CWD on minds of hunters

But for those who encounter a black bear in the forest — no matter how many times — the meeting is unforgettable.

For black bear hunters, Pennsylvania is a prime state for this experience. When I mention to out-of-state sportsmen that the annual average bear harvest is around 3,000 bruins, the fact elicits a “wow.”

Now the wows are being tabulated, but with some restraint.

The preliminary numbers for three days of this bear season show a harvest significantly lower from recent years. As of this writing, 2,242 bear were taken. Another five or so percent might be expected for the remainder of the season but it seems unlikely that the impressive average will be maintained.

No matter what the final tally, it was another distinctive bear harvest in Pennsylvania. In addition to plain numbers, the wow factor also includes size.

Once again four hunters racked up bears estimated to weigh over 600 pounds. To date, the largest was taken by Quakertown resident James R. Weisbrod. The male bear had an estimated live weight of 706 pounds and was harvested during the third day of the firearms hunt in Greene Township, Pike County.

A Barto man also harvested a bear over 600 pounds. Timothy J. Moffett Jr. collected a tremendous 652-pound bear — its actual live weight, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Moffett took his bear during the first day of the regular firearms season in Middle Smithfield Township in Monroe County — another part of the Pocono region. If the preliminary figures stand, Moffett’s bear would rank third for the season.

Also, at least six bears over 550 pounds were also taken.

To the relief of most, no bears were harvested in Montgomery County, but two were taken in Berks County. Schuylkill County’s impressive string of harvested bears fell considerable this season. With the preliminary three-day numbers, 15 bears were recorded, down from 34 in 2011 and 27 the year before.

Certainly the best bear region in the state did not change again. The north-central area, with Lycoming County leading the way, had another impressive harvest. The early numbers showed 239 deer being taken in Lycoming. Potter County had 103.

With two of the top three bear weights coming from the Pocono region, the northeast plateau counties also had good numbers. Preliminary reports reveal 66 bears were harvested in Monroe County, 57 in Monroe, and 39 in Wayne County. Luzerne County, around Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, recorded 53.

Say what you want about Maine and the Western territories, this is truly a bear hunting state.

*Long before the formation of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, colonial hunters used dogs to hunt bear and captured them alive in bear-houses.

I found this reference in an 1854 book by a north-central hunter, Philip A. Tome who wrote, “Pioneer Life or Thirty Years a Hunter.” Tome was born near Harrisburg in 1782 and hunted Tioga County around the early 1800s with his father. The book was re-issued in 1928, and again in 1989.

He wrote of building a house, 10 by 14 made of “large logs” and “rocks so heavy the bears could not raise them.” A trap door was built into the side of the house and the bait connected to a rope “in such a manner that the bear when it pulled upon the bait, would loose the fastening, and cause the door to fall down to its place, and fasten the bear into the house.” When they were secured in this manner, he wrote, “we could convey them home alive.”

Those wild Tioga folks actually took bears home alive, and made them pets.

“To tame them we used to attach a horse to them and lead them around. If they were stubborn and not easily tamed, we shut them up and fattened them for their oil, which as valuable.”

* While the two-week firearms season is taking place, talk centers on the finding of Chronic Wasting Disease in Southcentral Pa.

In October, a doe with CWD was discovered on a deer farm. Its presence has triggered significant repercussions.

For a time, another deer escaped from the affected farm. The deer become the target of a state search but it was shot this week by a hunter.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, which oversees the management of deer farms (under Act 51 the Pennsylvania legislature removed this duty from the Game Commission in 2006 at the behest of the deer-farm lobby) has quarantined 27 farms in 14 counties. Deer cannot be moved on or off the quarantined premises.

Meanwhile, deer hunters in a 600-square mile range around Adams and York counties must bring their harvested deer to a check station for testing. An emergency decree by the PGC created a Disease Management Area. All deer harvested in this area must be tested for CWD. The decree also prohibits the transport of certain deer parts from the DMA.

Attempting to prevent the spread of CWD into the wild whitetail population, the PGC has also banned the import and export of parts including, the head, antler plate and cape if brain tissue or other “soft material” is present.

While public health officials say there is no evidence CWD can be spread to humans either by contact on the consumption of deer meat, the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta is advising that meat from infected animals not be eaten. CWD is similar to mad-cow disease as it attacks the brain cells of affected animal. The disease is spread by “abnormally shaped proteins, called prions,” which also collect in muscle tissue. They are present in deer feces and urine,

A $75 CWD test for healthy-appearing hunter-harvested deer or elk is available through the Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory (717-787-8808).

Unhealthy animals should not be killed but reported to a Pennsylvania Game Commission regional office.

PGC press secretary, Jerry Feaser, said Wednesday the agency examined 320 whitetails at its check station on the first day of the firearms season. Also the PGC has a paid taxidermist on site to help hunters prepare their deer for mounting.